So there’s this big purple demon who wears a black vest. He’s one of the most powerful beings in all of Limbo. Felicia might have cause to be a little intimidated by this guy, but she knows his type. They’re both after the same artifact...so she offers to team up with him so that they can fight over it later. He agrees. Thus begins Mary Jane & Black Cat #3. Writer Jed MacKay continues a tale of two earth girls looking to get back to earth. Artist Vincenzo Carratù and colorist Brian Reber bring the story to the page.  

With the negotiations firmly made between the girls and demon, he lets the two of them know that everyone else after the artifact is waiting outside. Once it’s taken out of the mystical tower, everyone’s going to attack. So not only do S’ym, Black Cat, and Mary Jane have to survive all of the traps and hazards, they’ll have a small army of thieves to deal with once they make it out. To make matters worse, Black Cat is preoccupied. She’s dating Mary Jane’s ex (a genuinely nice guy named Peter), and she needs to tell her about it just so things don’t get weird...but there’s so much peril, and it’s all so tenuous that it’s not exactly wise to come right out and mention it. 

MacKay crosses the midway point of the series with style and poise. Interpersonal matters between the two title characters tie directly into the central action of the story in a way that amplifies tension while advancing the emotional end of the story as well. The characteristically witty MacKay dialogue isn’t quite as potent in the third issue of the series as it has been in the past, but MacKay is doing a sharp job of weaving some subtle characterization into the story of a thief and an actress entering a dangerous realm of demons on their way back home. 

Carratù and Reber focus the visuals largely on the interpersonal drama between actress, thief, and demon. The tensions between the three of them and the drama take the center of nearly every panel. This is a bit of a disappointment given the fact that the location of the action really SHOULD make more of an impression. They’re going to get a Soulsword from a mystical tower filled with impossibly bizarre dangers. There are a few interesting-looking monsters here and there, but the place that they’re inhabiting scarcely makes any kind of real impact. The action is, however, competently delivered to the page by artist and colorist.

MacKay and company continue to deliver a fun adventure with a couple of characters who continue to make quite an impression outside the margins of the Spider-Man titles that they debuted in so many decades ago. MacKay’s treatment of Black Cat continues to make her adventures significantly more intriguing than much of what Spider-Man has been doing of late.

Grade: A